World of Warcraft shed another 800,000 subscribers over the past quarter.

The third quarter was a good one for Activision, which saw a big jump in profits driven in large part by a 57 percent increase in digital sales. But it wasn't such a good time for World of Warcraft, which dropped another 800,000 subscribers, slipping from 11.1 million players at the beginning of July to 10.3 million at the end of September.

The biggest losses are in China, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in an investor's call, although the game is still "one of the most popular online games in China and remains by far the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world."

He also touched on an update expected in the near future which will add new content and raids to the game. "It's really not intended to go out and drive new user acquisition, that's a whole other strategy," he said. "But it does drive engagement with the game, and so that will impact the churn if we do it successfully, and will eventually drive winback, as players tell each other about the content they're enjoying."

Blizzard announced a new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria, in October. No release date has been set, but it will no doubt provide a significant bounce to WoW numbers when it hits.

Andy Chalk:The biggest losses are in China, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in an investor's call, although the game is still "one of the most popular online in China and remains by far the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world."

Yeah, I mean what other games will let you role play as a Panda, and there's only so many times you can replay the Kung-Fu Panda tie-ins.

Subscriptions had gotten so high they weren't likely to go up any further. Blame it on your least favourite content patch or your favourite new MMO you haven't played yet all you like, the reality is that the numbers were inevitably going to go down at some point.

WoW seems to be on a completely different measure to any other game, where "failure" means "very very slightly less wildly successful" and "success" isn't marked on the scale.

MMOs only really appeal to a certain market, and I think with so many others going F2P, you are bound to lose a few. That plus the release of SW:TOR. A few of my friends have cancelled their subscriptions already.

Im one of the ones who quit ^^ and i have totally been making better use of my time. Game is just gettin dry, same things being put back in each patch just different ways of workin it. Though i must say, the pandas are the thing that pushed me over the edge on my choice to quit. Hm the feeling of being 1/800,000 people compared to 1/11,100,000 is quite similar though.

They lost 7.3% of their players recently, thats a fair number. Only like £7.2 million in subscription though.... im sure they really dont mind /cough

Seventh Actuality:Subscriptions had gotten so high they weren't likely to go up any further. Blame it on your least favourite content patch or your favourite new MMO you haven't played yet all you like, the reality is that the numbers were inevitably going to go down at some point.

WoW seems to be on a completely different measure to any other game, where "failure" means "very very slightly less wildly successful" and "success" isn't marked on the scale.

a drop of 800,000 subscribers out of 12 million is not a small number and definitely is raising alarms inside Activision.

Personally, I'm going to wait until the Q4 figures to come out due to the announcement of the new expansion. I imagine that subscribers do wane during the summer months due to the nice weather and traveling, as well.

World of Warcraft shed another 800,000 subscribers over the past quarter.

The third quarter was a good one for Activision, which saw a big jump in profits driven in large part by a 57 percent increase in digital sales. But it wasn't such a good time for World of Warcraft, which dropped another 800,000 subscribers, slipping from 11.1 million players at the beginning of July to 10.3 million at the end of September.

The biggest losses are in China, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in an investor's call, although the game is still "one of the most popular online games in China and remains by far the most popular subscription-based MMO in the world."

He also touched on an update expected in the near future which will add new content and raids to the game. "It's really not intended to go out and drive new user acquisition, that's a whole other strategy," he said. "But it does drive engagement with the game, and so that will impact the churn if we do it successfully, and will eventually drive winback, as players tell each other about the content they're enjoying."

Blizzard announced a new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria, in October. No release date has been set, but it will no doubt provide a significant bounce to WoW numbers when it hits.

Seventh Actuality:Subscriptions had gotten so high they weren't likely to go up any further. Blame it on your least favourite content patch or your favourite new MMO you haven't played yet all you like, the reality is that the numbers were inevitably going to go down at some point.

WoW seems to be on a completely different measure to any other game, where "failure" means "very very slightly less wildly successful" and "success" isn't marked on the scale.

Plus, it's hard to ignore burn out after so many years. I, for one, still think it's a good game but, no matter how much they implement new stuff on the game, I don't have any more will to play it anymore. I just don't.

LavaLampBamboo:Well, I guess that's it for WoW. Time to start packing it all away =P

MMOs only really appeal to a certain market, and I think with so many others going F2P, you are bound to lose a few. That plus the release of SW:TOR. A few of my friends have cancelled their subscriptions already.

Still, it might inspire Blizzard to mix things up a bit =D

Yeah, who knows what they might do next? Maybe it might have something to do with pandas.

RT-Medic-with-shotgun:Good news is good. Wonder where they will go now that WoW no longer fits them. Hope they can rush it out the day ToR launches just to fuck with EA.

Where they will go? I do believe Diablo 3 is coming out soonish.

So is Skyrim; but they are both bandaids to the MMO solution. If they want an MMO skyrim or diablo will not garner all their attention. They will go to the new games but its not the MMO they would go to in order to get the grind fix the junkies need.

LavaLampBamboo:Well, I guess that's it for WoW. Time to start packing it all away =P

MMOs only really appeal to a certain market, and I think with so many others going F2P, you are bound to lose a few. That plus the release of SW:TOR. A few of my friends have cancelled their subscriptions already.

Still, it might inspire Blizzard to mix things up a bit =D

Yeah, who knows what they might do next? Maybe it might have something to do with pandas.

Seventh Actuality:Subscriptions had gotten so high they weren't likely to go up any further. Blame it on your least favourite content patch or your favourite new MMO you haven't played yet all you like, the reality is that the numbers were inevitably going to go down at some point.

WoW seems to be on a completely different measure to any other game, where "failure" means "very very slightly less wildly successful" and "success" isn't marked on the scale.

A fair point.

It's the "Sports Illustrated Cover Curse" of the gaming world.

For the uninitiated:

The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx is an urban legend that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine will subsequently be jinxed

The explanation is of course that the players on the cover of Sports Illustrated are at the top of their game or they would not be on the cover in the first place.

When you're at the top the only way to go is down and this is perceived as the cover's curse.

The game is getting old and you can only reinvent the experience so many times before it becomes unbearably boring. Though from talking with guildmates who still play I hear the raiding hasn't been very good this expansion. Hell I quit from sheer burn out when Wrath came to an end, there just wasn't anything new or interesting to do with the arrival of Cataclysm.

I find it far less likely people are quitting because they're miffed about the addition of Panderans as a playable race. It's far more plausible that people are just getting tired of playing the same thing. It will be interesting to see if The Old Republic manages to take a permanent chunk out of WoW's subscription base simply because it's a different (and just as popular if not more) IP with different story and gameplay.

Also inb4 the angry people show up screaming as loud as they can that WoW is a shit game, blizzard is shit and a sellout, and the people who play WoW are imbeciles.

Seventh Actuality:Subscriptions had gotten so high they weren't likely to go up any further. Blame it on your least favourite content patch or your favourite new MMO you haven't played yet all you like, the reality is that the numbers were inevitably going to go down at some point.

WoW seems to be on a completely different measure to any other game, where "failure" means "very very slightly less wildly successful" and "success" isn't marked on the scale.

It's also the midst of a recession in the US, so I seriously have to wonder how many subs were lost simply due to lack of affordability. Or more, the desire to eat and live in a home.

But as for a different measure for success, I don't think it's WoW. the whole industry considers marginal to moderate success a "failure." that's why so many studios are being closed despite making money for their publishers.

Love it or hate it, this is the way corporations do business. they want to spend money on the huge successes with huge yields, and screw the rest. A lot of people are all defensive of "companies are SUPPOSED to make money," but the end result is gaming studios being shut down for "failures" that aren't actually failures.

I'm always a bit surprised to see how many people cite Diablo 3 as an alternative. WoW and Diablo 3 are completely different games. Sure there is some overlap and it's safe to assume that many WoW fans like the Diablo series and vice versa, but Diablo 3 is not designed to provide the same experience at all. People on WoW forums frequently say they're quitting the game as soon as Diablo 3 comes out, but unless they've played the other games before I expect many of them will end up disappointed (which will likely lead to more forum whining from people who expected Diablo 3 to be WoW 2).

RT-Medic-with-shotgun:Good news is good. Wonder where they will go now that WoW no longer fits them. Hope they can rush it out the day ToR launches just to fuck with EA.

Where they will go? I do believe Diablo 3 is coming out soonish.

So is Skyrim; but they are both bandaids to the MMO solution. If they want an MMO skyrim or diablo will not garner all their attention. They will go to the new games but its not the MMO they would go to in order to get the grind fix the junkies need.

Attrition is a bitch, but at the same time I haven't seen any huge changes in realm population. I live on a low pop server and we still have enough to PUG almost at any given moment.WoW isn't going away yet folks, no matter how much some of you might wish it.

Because bashing WoW and MMOs is kewl, and more articles like this means more opportunities to look kewl in front of the internet!

Because it shows people are getting tired of WOW and leaving it instead of getting tired of it and staying to keep paying them while they complain about the game. Nothing to do with it being "kewl".

It is good news because some of the people that kept paying Blizzard while they cried about the game are leaving. Very good news indeed.

Also because getting WoW out of the way would allow for more MMOs to gain higher populations and this would mean more content for individual MMOs. That extra content will make other MMOs stand out instead of being in the shadow of the WoW template. Get more ideas into the open and we might get better MMOs released. Provided something just like WoW doesn't manage to our WoW WoW and replace it.

So is Skyrim; but they are both bandaids to the MMO solution. If they want an MMO skyrim or diablo will not garner all their attention. They will go to the new games but its not the MMO they would go to in order to get the grind fix the junkies need.

1. Skyrim ain't got nuffin' to do with blizzard

2. Diablo is multiplayer

1. Dosen't need to be2. Still not the MMO that some of them will want.

As a former WoW person, news that WoW's subscriber base continues to take a turn for the worse gladdens my heart. It's like every bit of hatred that boiled up in my heart at the sight of their prostitute pet/mount store is warmly validated.

Oh, and I hear they're going to take a wrecking ball to the talent tree system. Again. The thought of having to relearn and remap the entire UI for every alt I had makes me wanna /wrist.

Here's to hoping Diablo 3 and it's pay to win AH (with Blizz taking their cut of the $ of course) is a complete and utter failure. A man can hope.

Because bashing WoW and MMOs is kewl, and more articles like this means more opportunities to look kewl in front of the internet!

Because it shows people are getting tired of WOW and leaving it instead of getting tired of it and staying to keep paying them while they complain about the game. Nothing to do with it being "kewl".

It is good news because some of the people that kept paying Blizzard while they cried about the game are leaving. Very good news indeed.

Also because getting WoW out of the way would allow for more MMOs to gain higher populations and this would mean more content for individual MMOs. That extra content will make other MMOs stand out instead of being in the shadow of the WoW template. Get more ideas into the open and we might get better MMOs released. Provided something just like WoW doesn't manage to our WoW WoW and replace it.

So is Skyrim; but they are both bandaids to the MMO solution. If they want an MMO skyrim or diablo will not garner all their attention. They will go to the new games but its not the MMO they would go to in order to get the grind fix the junkies need.

1. Skyrim ain't got nuffin' to do with blizzard

2. Diablo is multiplayer

1. Dosen't need to be2. Still not the MMO that some of them will want.

With an auction house where you can buy stuff for real cash? Or that limited time offer that gives a free copy of Diablo 3 if you buy a one year subscription for WoW? Don't make me laugh.

Because bashing WoW and MMOs is kewl, and more articles like this means more opportunities to look kewl in front of the internet!

Because it shows people are getting tired of WOW and leaving it instead of getting tired of it and staying to keep paying them while they complain about the game. Nothing to do with it being "kewl".

It is good news because some of the people that kept paying Blizzard while they cried about the game are leaving. Very good news indeed.

Also because getting WoW out of the way would allow for more MMOs to gain higher populations and this would mean more content for individual MMOs. That extra content will make other MMOs stand out instead of being in the shadow of the WoW template. Get more ideas into the open and we might get better MMOs released. Provided something just like WoW doesn't manage to our WoW WoW and replace it.

When Rift was released, I was happy to go there, just because I was through with WoW after playing it for nearly six years. But through the rift beta and its release up to the first content patch, the forums were always the same.

"WAH WAH WAH, I want a dungeon finder, WoW had one!""QQ i want cross server BGs, WoW had them!""WAAAAH, I want [random WoW feature], it was SO COOL ANY MMO NEEDS IT!"

If WoW finally breaks down other mmos might be save from all this crying for stuff WoW had.

Sargeras, the ultimate warcraft baddie, and potentially other titans.Sargeras dwarfs Deathwing, being among those that created the aspects in the first place.Then there's the Old Gods.The ones we've fought so far have been recently awakened and still partially sealed, being mere shadows of their true selves.And there's the current alliance and horde dipshit leaders that might create some new factions or somesuch.etc.

LavaLampBamboo:Well, I guess that's it for WoW. Time to start packing it all away =P

MMOs only really appeal to a certain market, and I think with so many others going F2P, you are bound to lose a few. That plus the release of SW:TOR. A few of my friends have cancelled their subscriptions already.

Still, it might inspire Blizzard to mix things up a bit =D

This is essentially the reason the numbers keep dropping. Well...that and the fact the new content hasn't been, so to speak, stellar.